Commandeered
by macrauchenia
Summary: Entrusted with a mysterious scrap of paper by his grandfather, Armin Arlert sets sail on the privateer ship "The Freedom" with his friends, searching for answers. However, things become infinitely more complicated when the ruthless and enigmatic captain of the dreaded pirate ship "The Titan" sets her sights on a certain privateer ship and her blond navigator. [Pirate AU] [AruAni]
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. This is purely for my own enjoyment!**  
Author's Note: **Oh man... Here we go. That multi-chaptered AruAni fic I've been promising you guys. I know the Pirate AU deal is kind of popular and a bit overused, but I actually read all of the pirate AUs for SnK and I can proudly say this won't be like any of them. (Most of them were Ereri and strictly romance, while this will be AruAni with action _and _romance, so that's already a difference)

This is kind of like the general prologue. It's much shorter than what I usually write, but ehh, _prologues_. Hopefully this is a good introduction to the setting, time era, and modification to characters. I promise it'll pick up!

* * *

The sun rays reflected off of the sparkling, azure water in front of him, creating shimmering shards that forced the boy to advert his direct gaze from the overwhelming brightness. The warm waves caressed the boy's calves and knees with soothing murmurs of promised adventures and far off lands. Half-healed nicks scattered along the boy's bruised knees from a recent squabble with the local dock boys stung slightly in the warm salt water.

Yet, Armin had never been happier.

A loud shrieking to his left caused the boy to jolt out of his dreamlike reverie. He glanced over to where he had last seen his two best friends, curious to discover what had caused the fuss. It took the blond a moment to register that his brunet friend had actually left the safety of the deck and was sputtering in the salty water. Mikasa looked even less thrilled than the boy. She glared down at the flailing boy with a displeased glare.

"E-Eren?" Armin ventured uncertainly. He glanced around him cautiously, hoping that no one had seen the brunet's accident. Armin delicately pulled his legs from the warm, soothing water just in case Eren's screeching had alerted any bystanders. He didn't want to be caught so close to the ocean. The boy loathed the cool breeze that froze the salt-laced skin on his shins and toes.

With an awkward grace learnt only through forbidden practices in the ocean by the moonlight, Eren slowly paddled his way to the shabby dock the three had been perched on. Mikasa refused to help him up, so Armin offered his paltry strength to the boy with an outstretched hand. Eren grabbed the boy's hand and attempted to hoist himself up on the deck. Mikasa finally relented after Eren nearly ended up pulling the smaller boy into the ocean and gingerly hauled both of the boys back from the edge of the deck. Eren flopped onto the deck and rolled onto his back, starring at the cloudless sky above him with slight pants.

Armin slowly settled down next to his friend, shooting the brunet concerned glances that the latter refused to acknowledge.

"What happened?"

Eren mashed his lips together as if the story was the most embarrassing thing to occur in his short life. "I told Mikasa that I was going to enlist in the King's Navy," he muttered. Armin glanced towards the solemn girl standing instinctively between them and the edge of the dock. Her normally blank face looked faintly conflicted as if she was feeling guilty or concerned that particular day.

Armin flicked his nervous gaze back towards the brunet. "But Eren—didn't your mo—"

"I don't need her permission to enlist," the boy announced loudly. With his hair plastered down by the salt water and his nose dripping slightly from the damp, the boy looked younger than his twelve years. He curled his limp fingers into a firm fist. "She's just scared that I'll end up like my dad."

Armin pulled his salt-crusted legs to his chest and rested the underside of his chin on his gritty knees. They had all lost someone to the sea at some point in their lives.

Doctor Jaeger had been on a trip to visit patients on a nearby island when the storm hit.

Mikasa was the sole survivor of a disastrous wreck, found unconscious and drained on a floating plank in the water.

Armin's own parents had sent him letters and keepsakes from their travels across the sea, writing faithfully until one day the letters simply…stopped.

"Aren't you scared?" Armin asked softly.

"No."

"Even though you can't swim very well?"

The boy grunted dismissively, avoiding the blond's searching gaze. "I can swim fine," he added after a doubtful pause. Mikasa was the best swimmer of the three, though she rarely ventured out further than the surf when they would sneak away to the seaside. Armin had the finest form, though his weak physique often led him breathless and stranded in the ocean. While Mikasa and Armin would watch from the shore, Eren would swim relentlessly until dusk fell, trying to improve his balance and speed with little success.

The boy's teal eyes rounded on the blond accusingly. "You can't swim either," he countered with a frown. "What would _you_ do out in sea?"

Armin had long since accepted his physical weakness and did not take offense at the boy's blunt question. He stretched out his legs and smiled at the gently lapping sea. "I've been looking through grandfather's maps again," he began with a dreamy smile. "Someday, I'm going to go to all of those places he went to years ago." Armin's grandfather had been instructing his grandson in the art of cartography for years, priming the boy to someday take over his meager mapmaking business when the old man's strength ran out.

"So you'll be the navigator," Eren began to muse softly. "You could lead us to buried treasure." Mikasa settled down beside him, forgiving the boy for his past comment earlier. "Mikasa could be the best sailor on the ship." The boy's fantasy had soon become a shared dream for the three children from the moment Eren first presented it. "And I could be the…captain! _Ow!"_ The boy broke off with a sour glance in Mikasa's direction when a quick pinch from the girl shattered the boy's excited daydreaming.

"I want to be the captain," Mikasa stated with a faint frown.

"But you can't! You're a gir—_ow!"_

"What does that matter?"

Armin suppressed the urge to laugh at the adopted siblings' typical antics. Eren would usually lose, as his ambitious and loud mouth rarely knew when to quit before Mikasa's playful pinches became determined prods. He opened his mouth to comment or place his vote on who should be captain when the loud, jarring bells of the town rang through the air with an urgent trill. Armin promptly shut his mouth, feeling the gong of the bell reverberate through his chest. Another loud _boom_ echoed around their ears, causing the gulls circling overhead to retreat with piercing shrieks.

_Was...was that cannon? Are we under attack?_

Immediately the brunet rose, a wild determination in his eyes. "Mom!" he shouted before tearing down the faded path leading to where he and Mikasa lived.

"Wait, Eren!" Mikasa was already on her feet and running after the rash boy. Armin swallowed and glanced down towards his trembling hand. His grandfather had said their small island hadn't been attack by any pirates in nearly three decades. _What could they possibly want now…?_

The boy's thought caused him to start. _Grandfather…_ Eren and Mikasa were already long gone, so it was unlikely he could catch up to them, not that he could he expect to do anything to help them since he was the frailest of his friends. However, he could still aide his ailing grandfather in some way. He could at least warn the old man of the dark sails looming on the horizon.

Without giving it a second thought, Armin spun on his heels and sprinted towards his grandfather's tiny mapmaking shop in the center of town. His heart pounded as he ran faster than he had ever run in his life.

* * *

Cannon fire erupted around him as did the screams of terror and pain. A house only a few meters away suddenly exploded in a flurry of glass, cries, and wood. The shockwaves from the blast sent the boy tumbling to the ground and his vision flickered for a moment between flashes of white and pitch black.

He slowly struggled to his feet and stumbled away from the house, refusing to look at the decimated inhabitants. Noises to his left sounded muffled as if half of his head was wrapped in gauze. Something warm trickled across his scraped left cheek. He sluggishly lifted a tentative finger and stared wide-eyed at the crimson liquid staining his fingertips.

_My ear…_ the boy echoed forlornly. Even his thoughts were disconnected and distant, as if the cannon shell had severed the blond's connection with reality.

Panicked shrieks and pleas ripped the boy viciously back into the current moment. A large, bearded man holding a dripping sword rushed past Armin, though he paid the boy little notice. The bells had stopped ringing. Either the invaders had killed those in the tower or the latter had simply accepted the inevitable fate and stopped trying to warn the townspeople.

Armin turned uncertainly on his unsteady feet. The blast had also damaged his already precarious equilibrium. He could still run, though his direction and balance was severely weakened. The blond had run into two separate buildings while stumbling towards his grandfather's tiny store. Injured townspeople and ruthless pirates alike surged past him with a cruel indifference. No one stopped to take pity on the wobbling boy, though Armin supposed in their defense that he wouldn't have either.

Finally the boy rounded the corner to where his grandfather spent the long days. Only hours previously, the blond had stopped by to give the old man his prepared lunch, smiling as he rang the bell on the way out.

He was too late. The boy skidded to a stop and resisted the urge to double over in his terror and exhaustion. He wasn't sure if he was breathless out of fear or weakness or perhaps a mix of both.

_Grandfather…_ Armin's eyes widened at the sight of the small, timber-framed store in flames. Even with his damaged hearing, he could hear the horrible, sizzling sound of the merciless fire hungrily devouring the ancient, brittle maps within the shop. Several of his grandfather's most prized possessions were now piles of ashes.

Armin's entire body trembled with panic. He had yet to see the old man anywhere.

_"Grandfather!"_ The boy's terrified, cracked cry sounded foreign to his ringing ears. He took a hesitant step towards the blazing shop but leaped back with a startled shout as the door collapsed into a fiery pile of smoldering fragments of timber. "Grandfather!" Armin tried again, hating the way his voice crackled in the smothering ash and smoke clouding his lungs and making him gag. The boy collapsed to his knees, feeling bitter salty tears stream out of the corners of his eyes.

A shallow cough to his right caused the boy's attention to perk up. He lifted his bowed head and crawled to a previously unnoticed pile of soot. Armin suppressed a joyful hiccup at the sight of his grandfather's dull but alive gaze.

"Ar-min…" the old man wheezed. The blond boy scooted closer to the last family he possessed in the world.

"I'm here," the boy murmured pathetically. He could still hear the crackle of the maps burning behind him. His hearing was returning, though he wasn't sure he wanted to be able to hear the carnage and destruction around him. He preferred the innocent silence.

"Ar…min…" the gray haired man repeated. His breaths were getting shallower and his eyes were starting to dim. Armin clutched his grandfather's hand but nearly ripped his hand away when he felt a faint, papery prod to his scraped palm. Armin stared down blankly at what his grandfather had transferred to him. He wanted to unfold his hand and look, though he refused to tear his hand from that of his dying grandfather.

"Wha…?" he murmured confusedly. He glanced back to his grandfather and his gut clenched at the sight of the man's suddenly bright gaze boring into his own tear-flecked eyes.

"Take…care…" The man's dull eyes slowly flickered close and the old cartographer slumped to the side in a final death thro.

"Gra…grandfather…?" Armin's voice cracked and he tentatively reached for the old man's jacket. "Wake up," the boy whispered in a hoarse plead, though he knew his grandfather was long gone already. Still, it didn't stop the boy from curling both fists (he had yet to look at what was concealed in his palm) into his grandfather's loose, charred jacket and cry into the man's ash-stained undershirt.

He didn't notice the man standing behind him until an icy, iron grip tightened around the boy's slight neck. He squawked and flailed at the sudden action, but he did not lash out at his assailant. The world around the blond tipped sharply as he suddenly found himself lying limply on the ground several feet from his grandfather's body. He blinked blankly at the death and despair around him, far too numb to worry about his impending death. His tiny fist curled instinctively tighter around the parcel in his palm. It seemed as if he was going to die before he ever appreciated his grandfather's last gift. He didn't care if he died anymore.

"Do you see how cruel the world is?" The words were cold and lifeless. However, the large finger underneath the boy's chin was gentle as it tipped the boy's face upwards so he could look into his assailant's eyes. The man's eyes were steely and dead. On his front right pocket blazed the insignia that designated the man as a captain of some sort. Armin wondered what someone like the captain of the invaders would want with a boy like him.

"Remember this," the man's stained lips curved into an equally stained smile, revealing crooked and decaying teeth. "The whole world is your enemy, boy." The last thing Armin remembered before the merciful darkness took him away was a flash of blonde and a flicker of concerned azure.

_"Did you find him? Did you find it?"_

* * *

**Thank you for reading! **Let me know what you think! I know it's cliche to say, but more reviews certainly let me know which stories to update first :D


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Not a thing  
**Author's Note: **Wow. This AU is really, really fun for me. I hope I'm keeping the essence of everyone though in this story. Some of the timing elements aren't consistent with the progression of the original time stream of the manga/anime, but ehhh. This is AU, right?

* * *

_"Did you find him? Did you find it?"_

"—ey! —min!"

_"The whole world is your enemy, boy."_

"Hey! Armin! Did you hear what I said?"

"Uh," the blond started and blinked at his brunet friend hovering in his face. "Wha…?" He noticed Eren's worried frown and Mikasa's concerned, crinkled eyebrows. "Sorry," the boy quickly apologized. "I was thinking about, uh, the King's latest decre—" the boy lied before Eren cut him off with a disgusted roll of the eyes.

"Tch," the brunet's upper lip lifted in a furious scowl. "One day I'm going to…" as the boy rambled on another tangent about the latest of the corrupt king's newest policies, Armin turned his face away slightly and tried to flush his previous thoughts from his mind with little success.

He tried not to think of _that _day_._ It had been nearly three years since the pirates had attacked their tiny island and each of them had lost another family member. Eren's mother and Mikasa's adoptive mother had died instantly when a cannon shell caused the roof of their meager home to collapse. Eren would have bled himself to death trying to retrieve his mother's body from the carnage and jagged, shattered beams if a nearby dock guard had not been around to pull the grieving boy from the devastated remains of the home. Armin himself had only learned of the full story after several months of angry silence from the boy, as the dark-haired girl refused to share any details of the event.

Armin himself was almost thrown amongst the corpses until a friend of his family noticed the weak rise and fall of his chest. The boy had been the only survivor in that particular section of the town, as everyone else had been mercilessly slaughtered by the pirates. Still to that day, Armin wondered what strange twist of fate kept him alive when dozens of others were cruelly gutted and shot by the deadly invaders. He couldn't remember the face of the pirate captain who had spared him—if that's what Armin could call it—but he could remember the man's ominous advice. He could remember a flash of blonde and azure.

Armin glanced sideways at his ranting best friend. He had told neither Eren nor Mikasa about his encounter. When the boy had concernedly questioned the boy about his head injury after the attack, Armin merely lied and told him he had been knocked down by fleeing citizens on the outskirts of the town. Too wrapped up in his own grief and anger, the brunet had simply accepted the story with a terse nod. Mikasa looked unconvinced, though she did not ask the boy for the truth. His gaze traveled towards the quiet girl and noticed that the girl was staring at him. Startled, the boy forced a small smile to reassure her that he was alright. The girl did not return his smile and turned her blank stare back towards her adoptive brother after another moment of consideration, leaving Armin free to muse upon the past undisturbed.

When the king's soldiers pulled the boy's prone body from his dead grandfather, the note that the latter had left Armin nearly slipped through his unclenched fingers. However, the boy must have subconsciously recognized the importance of the scrap of paper, because when he woke up in the bed of the nearest safe house, it was still clutched in his grimy, bloody fingers. He couldn't even summon the strength to look at it until nearly a week after the invasion. To say he was mildly disappointed would be an understatement.

As far as the boy knew, his grandfather had had no secrets in his meager existence as an average mapmaker. Still, the old man's determination to pass the mysterious scrap of paper onto his last living relative confused and fascinated the boy. Obviously the crinkled possession meant a great deal to his grandfather. Armin had half wondered if the item was some long lost secret about his parents' fate or a clue to their whereabouts. He even would have felt some rush in his veins or a renewed sense of hope if the stained parcel had promised an adventure for the boy. However, when the boy gingerly unfolded the crinkled, aged paper, he was greeted with merely a messily scrawled circle with several unimportant numbers and letters around the rim. He could recognize his grandfather's handwriting at any time, though it must have been from when the man was younger, as Armin could not discern the messy quiver to each word that plagued the man's older works. Still, as Armin had fallen asleep that night after tucking the newly folded scrap of paper back into his undershirt, he had dreams of some sort of mystery that awaited him and his friends.

Armin finally pulled himself back into reality with a wistful sigh. He still kept his grandfather's final gift always safe on his person and he had memorized the repeating ring of symbols around the circle's edge, but he no longer entertained notions of treasure and adventure. The dream had died primarily with Eren, as the boy now only spoke of revenge against the very pirates who took his mother from him.

"Oh! Right! The King's Navy!"

Armin glanced towards his friend and blinked, confused again for a moment as to what the boy was saying. _Oh, he remembered what he was going to tell me earlier…_ Armin flicked his gaze briefly up to the hot, mid-day sun. _The King's Navy. _Although they had to be going their separate ways soon, since their brief lunch break was over, Armin still felt a slightly interested pulse in his chest at the older boy's mention of the elite prowler of the seven seas.

"I saw the _Freedom_ in the dry's for repair," the boy announced with wide, glowing eyes. Armin's own eyes widened, but Mikasa did not look vaguely impressed. Armin suspected that she had probably been present at the time.

"Why?" Armin breathed. Though it wasn't nearly as massive as the pride of the King's Navy, the _Unicorn_, the _Freedom_ was a ship bourn from legend, as it was one of the only ships not built by the king's men. The ship's christening occurred when a group of imprisoned officers revolted against their pirate captors and commandeered the former pirate schooner.

Not only was the ship itself the star of many bold sea tales, the crew members of the elusive _Freedom_ were larger than life heroes who dared to defy any of the pirates who terrorized the royal waters. Erwin Smith, now the current captain of the _Freedom_, had only been a mere cabin boy at the time of the revolt on board the former _Colossus_, but his determination and strength solidified his reputation as the undisputed captain of the _Freedom. _

Captain Erwin's first mate (despite being a "respectable" privateer for the King, Erwin maintained ties to the pirate hierarchy system) had been a dangerous smuggler for a majority of his life until the captain convinced him to work on the other side of the law. Few proven facts were known about the first mate, which made the legends about his feats soar beyond possible heights.

The _Freedom_ was also one of the only ships in the entire navy that boasted the skills of an inventor. Hanji Zoe, an eccentric to the core, had been the first to develop a new technology involving the frames of pistol guns and an intricate set of leather harnesses and rope to create a quick, efficient way of navigating around the _Freedom_'s various sails and riggings. Dubbed the "Wings" of the _Freedom, _these exclusive devices were highly coveted by pirates and sailors alike. The inner mechanisms of the "Wings" in particular was what fascinated Armin the most about the _Freedom_, although his brunet friend had been more awestruck by the legends of the blond captain and his deadly first mate.

Eren shrugged, mashing his lips together in a displeased frown. "I don't know," he admitted. "There were guards by the dock entrance, so no one could get too close." Despite himself, Armin felt his heart pound louder with anticipation and curiosity.

"I wonder why…" Armin mused softly, swapping wide-eyed glances with Eren.

For the first time, Mikasa spoke up. "Their navigator was killed after a pirate ambush," she announced sullenly. She hoped her comment would deter the boys from their sudden lapse in judgment and remind them that the sea and its inhabitants were dangerous. "They were in the Trost," the girl finished. Both boys nodded knowingly.

Since the death of their guardians, each child had been forced to get a job somewhere in the sea-side village. Mikasa found employment at the nearby tavern, affectionately dubbed the "Trost" by the locals after the obnoxious, drunken catcalls of "trost mee" intoxicated sailors directed towards the unimpressed barmaids. The girl had emotionlessly distanced herself from the two clearly drunken crew members of the _Freedom, _especially the ridiculous looking one who had bit his tongue after falling asleep in his drink. Still, the girl had heard from the louder one that their ship had been attacked by pirates searching for something.

"I wonder if they need more crew members," Eren murmured offhandedly after a considerable pause. Upon hearing the word "navigator," Armin's ears also perked up.

Mikasa narrowed her eyes at the boys slightly. Armin broke from his reverie and glanced back up at the noon sun. It had risen considerably higher than when he had last looked.

"We're going to be late," the boy remarked with a disappointed tone.

"Dammit!" Eren cursed softly under his breath and glanced over his shoulder. "If I'm late one more time, Shadis is going to kill me." With a quick "bye" and a haphazard wave, the boy spun around and darted off towards his job on the docks. Mikasa followed the boy after giving Armin a friendly bob of the head.

Armin smiled at the backs of his disappearing friends before turning and hurrying in the opposite direction. As he kept the books cleaner and neater than even his employer, the latter, a balding old man with a fondness for his poorly concealed canteen, was rather lenient on Armin's punctuality. Still, the boy rushed to get back to the little building that served as the customs office. He quickly burst through the doors and slid into his small clerk's desk, immediately copying the ledger before him into the record books. Amidst the calming _scratch scratch _of his pen, Armin could hear the soft murmur of a conversation. He forced himself to look busy as the heavy _thuds _of footsteps in the room sounded next door and the door knob to his employer's office squealed softly.

The boy was intrigued, though he did not tear his eyes from his work. _He rarely sees people in his office, _the blond thought curiously.

Suddenly the forced silence erupted into hearty laughter as Armin's employer and his mystery visitor entered the workroom. Armin was unable to keep his eyes on the suddenly repulsive papers on his desk and glanced up. His blue gaze met the steely, yet surprisingly warm stare of the stranger. The man's decorated lapel and determined expression terrified Armin (he knew exactly who this was) but he couldn't look away.

"Ah, Erwin," the older man beside the privateer captain smiled, "this here is my best worker, Armin. Armin _Arlert_," the man added after a knowing exchange of glances with Captain Erwin.

The blond captain nodded with a faint smile. "Ahh," he murmured, sending Armin another curious look before turning back to his host. "I would like to thank you again, Pixis, for your…insight," he told the older man. "It has been very enlightening," he finished with another cryptic smile.

"My pleasure," Pixis responded with a wide grin. "Any way to help…"

Although Armin considered himself to be bright, he was still dumbfounded by the conversion and its participants before him.

The _Captain Erwin. Wait until I tell Mikasa and Eren!_

The blond captain again wished the store manager a good day and disappeared through the door with another smile in Armin's direction.

The boy quickly pursed his parted lips when he realized how foolish he must have looked, gawping at the captain of the _Freedom_. Pixis turned towards the boy with an eye-crinkled grin before lifting the canteen to his lips and taking a deep swig of the brown, strong liquid.

"I always forget, Arlert—didn't you say you liked maps?"

The boy nodded uncertainly.

"Good. My colleague is a bit lost at the moment and could do with a good map." Armin felt his hand subconsciously stray to the pocket that held his grandfather's scrap of paper for good luck.

* * *

"Eren! Eren!"

The brunet looked up, surprised to see his best friend running along the creaking dock planks with an uncharacteristically reckless abandon. "Armin…?"

The boy skidded to a wobbly stop on the sunbaked dock, breathing heavily with his chest rapidly rising and falling. _He must've run all the way from Pixis's shop, _Eren mused. The boy's wide, shinning eyes and bright smile made Eren grin despite his exhaustion and confusion. The blond was more excited than Eren could remember in a long time. The last time he had seen his friend so consumed by childish glee was when the younger had found his grandfather's book of maps all those years ago. The older brunet glanced to his right to make sure Shadis was looking the other way before he lowered the heavy crate he was transporting on the ground with a grunt.

"What is it, Armin?"

"Captain Erwin came into the shop today!" the boy exclaimed, all of his words coming out in an excited jumble.

"What?" Eren blinked. "Why…?"

Armin hesitated for a second before glancing nervously around him. Eren got the message and nodded understandingly. The blond didn't want to rick being overheard.

"Wait a minute—meet me in the alleys." Armin returned the nod and headed for the meeting spot, while Eren quickly found a way to ditch the glowering Shadis.

Armin quickly disappeared amongst the crowd, making his way casually towards the agreed upon location. As he crossed in front of one of the unloading ships, the blond felt a slight prickle across his neck as if he were being watched. He quickened his pace and took less traveled paths, hoping to throw off any suspecting trailer. Once when the boy glanced behind his shoulders, he spied a pair of disinterested, narrowed eyes observing him, though when he looked again, the steely orbs were gone.

After a few more detours, Armin finally made it to the meeting location, feeling his heart pound from multiple reasons.

Luckily he didn't have to wait long. Eren was good to his word. Within moments, the brunet's panting face appeared around the side of the grimy alley walls. "What did you want to tell me," he asked with a curious grin.

Armin decided not to mention the previous occurrence and instead dove into his original news. "Captain Erwin dropped off a map today," he repeated.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Where did it lead to?" the boy responded exasperatedly.

"Oh," Armin frowned. "I'm not exactly sure…" he answered slowly.

"I thought you've seen every map from here to the king's castle," Eren sighed, faintly disappointed. Then his eyes lit up at another idea. "Unless of course the map was of places we've never heard of before," he added.

Armin tilted his head and considered his mental reconstruction of the map. "I'm not sure," he repeated. "It wasn't like a typical map. Its key was all wrong and the compass—well, I think it was supposed to be the compass…" Honestly, the strange map had reminded Armin of the scrap of paper his grandfather had given him, but since he hadn't ever told anyone else of his secret possession, he kept that observation to himself.

"Can we see it again?"

Armin shook his head with another frown. "I only got to look at it when Pixis left the room. We were studying another one of Captain Erwin's maps—just one around the Stohess coast—" the boy answered before Eren could interrupt "—but it accidentally fell out of its case when Pixas bumped into the table on the way out." _I swear that man is getting clumsier…_ "When he came back, I had to pretend I didn't see anything."

"I wonder what it means," the brunet murmured questioningly.

Armin shrugged, more confused than his friend. "When I came back from delivering notices, the map was gone. Pixis said Captain Erwin came back to pick it up while I was out. Whatever it was—it's gone now."

"Not exactly," Eren grinned with a determined flare in his eyes. 'Not if we join the _Freedom._" He stated with a wide grin. Armin took half a step back, wondering if his friend's eagerness to join the sea was becoming too consuming.

"Join the _Freedom?"_ Armin half-sputtered. "But you heard Mikasa today—they were just attacked by pirates a few weeks ago."

"Exactly! They need a new navigator, right? I bet you know maps better than anyone else here."

Armin's cheeks reddened slightly at the older boy's praise. "I don't thi—"

"Besides, they're probably in need of help since they've come in for repairs earlier than the usual docking time," Eren continued excitedly. "I bet all three of us could get a job on the _Freedom?"_

_Three? Oh, right. Mikasa. She'd hate it, but she'd go if Eren went. _"Maybe…" the blond murmured doubtfully.

"Exactly!" Eren announced, as if it were final. "After we tell Mikasa, we're going to find Captain Erwin and join the crew _Freedom._ Then you can find out what's on that map and we'll finally find those damn pirates," the boy added softly, his determined grin turning flinty at the past relocation.

Armin watched the dark change that overcame his friend with a wary frown.

"Yeah," he echoed weakly.

* * *

The girl's lithe fingers gently traced the smooth, worn leather straps encircling her upper thigh. A gift from her deceased father, stolen from the corpse of a crew member from the _Freedom_. She was perhaps the only pirate to ever don a pair of the kitschy-named apparatuses apart from the troublesome privateers onboard the _Freedom. Wings,_ the girl echoed with a suppressed snort of derision.

Despite her unimpressed attitude towards the self-righteous crew members of the _Freedom, _she was still more wary of Captain Erwin and his first mate in particular than any of the other privateer ships flying under the king's tyrannous flag.

_"Did you find him? Did you find it?"_

Erwin had something that her father wanted, so she wanted it now.

_ "The whole world is your enemy."_

Thomas Wagner had been his name. Her father always asked for their names, as if it made a difference. He cried when she watched her father kill him. His harness fit the girl's thin frame perfectly.

That was the last day the girl had seen the _Freedom, _though she often heard stories of its daring feats in the dockside taverns.

"Captain!" The girl's head snapped up and she turned expectedly towards her first mate.

"What?" she demanded, feeling a bit irritated and disoriented from the sudden jar to her thoughts.

"We're approaching the _Garrison._ It's about two leagues from us now. We'll be in range in an hour if the wind stays on our side. Orders, Captain?"

Her disinterested gaze rolled lazily towards the frantically retreating ship before them. Once they strung up their flag, every ship in the King's Navy (save one) tried to flee. The cat and mouse game was no longer amusing to the girl.

"I'm not interested in prisoners, Mister Braun."

* * *

**Anyone feeling the mystery yet? Thanks for reading! Let me know how this is going, please!**

Also, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favorited, etc!

**Seseorang - **I'm glad you're enjoying this so far! Thank you so much for the encouraging words. I hope you like the impending AruAni meeting, though unfortunately it is a few chapters away D:**  
Shadow-ying - **Thank you so much! I'm glad this seems interesting to you :D**  
RonaldWeaslyTheHero - **I realized the similarities in the titles the moment I posted this. I hope you don't mind! I'm really glad you caught the swimming description! I've been waiting forever to reveal my swimming headcanons for these cuties for ages. Thank you so much!**  
jrlara14 - **Hopefully this next chapter won't disappoint! Thank you!**  
BloodLily16 - **Thank you! See, I've updated :D**  
Moochki - **First of all, don't feel the need to apologize for not reviewing. I'm just so excited to see people _reading_ my stories. The review is just the icing on the top of the cake. Ahah! I'm glad you caught that thing with the end lines. I promise it will make a bit more sense in the future. Hopefully this next chapter will make you speculate a bit more :D


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing...  
**Author's Note: **You don't know how close I was to saying Annie's stolen gear belonged to Marco. Because that would have been beautifully canon. But now you'll get to spend the rest of the story agonizing about when I will or won't knock a certain freckled Jesus off the life raft.  
Also, sorry for the still non-existent AruAni. It'll get there. Eventually.

* * *

"No."

"I'm sure Eren isn't going to leave it at tha—"

"_No."_

"I don't care what you say, Mikasa. Armin and I are going over there right now."

"What—are we…?"

"Come on, Armin."

"Wait!" the blond squawked as he was forcefully pulled from his chair by the brunet. Eren paid little attention to the younger boy's wriggling and towed him through the hiccupping crowd of the Trost. Mikasa had made the fatal mistake of pointing out the two sailors of the _Freedom_ to the boys and now Eren was adamant about earning a passage on the ship through them. He was prepared to achieve it in any way possible—even if it required sacrificing his last wages to buy the two sailors enough grog to earn their grudging trust.

Although Mikasa was dead set against her friends joining the _Freedom_, she refused to watch from a distance as they failed miserably or signed their fate away. She slowly filtered through the crowd, but by the time she reached the two boys, Eren had already opened his mouth.

"You're from the _Freedom, _aren't you?"

The louder drunk with floppy, mousey brown hair turned towards the three and scoffed before returning to his mug. His companion, dark-haired and solemn, watched them curiously with dark eyes not yet dulled by the effects of alcohol.

Eren repeated the question again in a louder, angrier tone

The darker haired sailor tilted his head at the three. "Aren't you a bit young to be—"

"If First Mate Levi was here, he'd say—but he isn't here, so I'll say it," the brunet slurred. "You shitty brats better get home and leave us soldiers alone." He turned back towards his companion, smiling cheekily. "I sounded like h-hic-im, didn't I, Gunther?" The darker haired man neither nodded nor tore his gaze away from the strange collection of youths in front of him. The brunet was furious; the girl looked faintly relieved, though her mask was considerably blank; the blond seemed more curious than anything else.

Eren gritted his teeth at the obvious rejection. He slammed his fist down on the table, rattling the various mugs and pitchers laced across the bar. A hushed silence settled heavily amongst the crowd as all eyes slowly rounded on the developing scene. Armin pursed his lips, sensing the rising storm, and Mikasa placed a calming hand on the boy's shoulder.

Eren's action jostled the drunken brunet, causing the man to choke on his drink. He lowered the mug, sputtering and glaring at the three. He rose, trembling fist in a weak imitation of readiness and determination to fight. "You little p—"

A small ring of curious onlookers surrounded the conflicting parties, interested in seeing some action that night. The owner of the tavern watched the scene unfold with a very unsatisfied scowl as he reached for something underneath the bar. The situation was getting bad. Armin glanced to the side and noticed Eren and (more dangerously) Mikasa were almost moved to blows as well if things got sticky.

_Sorry, Eren._

"Oh…uh, _sir!_" Armin's high-pitched, panicked shout rose above the encouraging grunts of the watching crowd and Eren's frustrated muttering. The brunet drunk blinked once and turned his bleary, pained gaze on the blond.

"Eh, what is it?" he whined slightly.

"I'm sorry my friend disrupted your, uh, evening…" Armin began slowly for the man's benefit. "We were simply curious as to where you were going next…? Uh, we have a bet you see…"

The older man lowered his fist and gawped at the blonde. "Eh…?" he repeated with a dumbstruck expression.

"Yes… Eren," he gestured towards the still glowering boy who was barely kept in check by Mikasa's painfully tight grip on his forearm, "thought you were going out to sea, since that would explain your stop for supplies, but I had a feeling the _Freedom _was set to head towards the north coast to—"

The man cut Armin off with a hearty laugh. "I hope you didn't bet too much, boy, since you would have lost." Gunther shot his companion a warning glance, but the brunet barreled on with what he was saying. "As soon as we're ready to leave tomorrow, we're heading straight for the open sky—er, sea," the man dribbled. His eyes squinted as his grasp on speech lessened.

"_Aurou…"_

"Taking the route down Stohess coast."

Armin frowned at the man's accidental slip. He remembered seeing Captain Erwin's map in Pixis's office, though that was not the fastest route to the major shipping lanes. Either the Captain had outdated instructions or he was interested in something _very_ far out of the way. _Eren did say they were missing a navigator, though that's very in the wrong direction…_

Although Armin was the first to shatter the mounting tensions, Mikasa was the one who ended the encounter. She forcefully grabbed the still fuming Eren and spun him around, pulling him quickly back through the crowd. Armin followed quietly, thinking of what the drunken man had uttered. _Perhaps he was too drunk to know what he was saying…? Maybe he was misinformed…? _When Mikasa towed the still struggling Eren through the crowd, she all but shoved him out of the door to the tavern. Eren stumbled backwards and landed with a heavy _thud_ on the dirty street. He glared at the two standing before him as if they had betrayed him openly. In a way, Armin supposed, they had.

"That was our only chance to join the _Freedom_," the boy seethed, picking himself off of the ground. "I can't believe you _ruined_ it!"

"Eren!" Mikasa barked, narrowing her eyes into dangerous slits. "That wasn't the way to join them."

The boy froze and nodded once, his angry expression melting away into one of resignation. "You're right," he sighed and the girl accepted the apology with a single nod. As Mikasa entered the tavern alone to retrieve their forgotten belongings, Eren glanced towards Armin to thank the boy for his quick action and frowned at the boy's distracted, distant expression.

"Armin…?"

The blond blinked and turned towards Eren. "Eh, sorry. I was just thinking about what the one said."

"How they were going out to open sea? I know…" A childish, wistful whine crept into Eren's tone.

Armin shook his head. "Yes, but no. Going by the coast isn't the best course if they want to go out at this time of the year."

"What do you mean, Armin?"

The boy frowned. "Captain Erwin's map was of the Stohess coast, so I believe that one sailor when he said that's where they are trying to go. It's just that at this time of the year, the coast is extremely dangerous. Both from the currents and weather and from pirates looking for a refuge and a last minute haul before the summer storms arrive." The boy's face was flushed with eagerness at the chance to employ his knowledge on navigation. "They should know that…?" Armin added uncertainly, giving the blond captain the benefit of the doubt.

"So they're going in the wrong direction on purpose…" Eren mused slowly. Mikasa returned, holding Eren's salt-stained jacket under one arm and Armin's patched hand-down under the other. She surveyed the conversation with a faintly displeased stare, not particularly happy that the topic under debate was still the _Freedom. _However, as long as Eren wasn't proclaiming his intentions to join the crew, she was satisfied.

Armin nodded once. "Exactly, though I don't know why."

"Maybe they're lost," the brunet shrugged.

"Maybe," Armin repeated.

"I bet they'd be sailing in circles without a navigator," Eren grinned, shooting a mischievous glance towards his best friend. "You haven't even seen the map and you know they're messed up."

"I wouldn't exactly sa—"

"Oi! What do you brats know about navigation?"

* * *

At the curt knock on his quarter's door, the blond captain of the _Freedom_ glanced up with an expectant expression. His curiosity melted into a genuine smile when he realized who accompanied the first mate.

"I'm done playing nurse over these brats," Levi announced, unkindly shoving Armin and Eren into the room and ignoring Mikasa's soft hiss of annoyance. "They nearly caused Auruo to be banned from _another _tavern." The short man sent a dark glare in Eren's direction. "Next time send Hanji to look over them." The first mate immediately crossed to the arm chair opposite Erwin's desk and slouched casually in the seat after brushing away imperceptible dirt on his uniform.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary, Levi," the blond smiled reassuringly at the wide-eyed youths in front of him. "All a misunderstanding. Is that right, Mister Arlert?" His crinkled, amused gaze settled on the youngest of the three.

The younger blond stiffened and nodded equally stiffly. "Yes, sir. Yes, Captain Erwin," he repeated.

"No need to be so formal, Mister Arlert," the captain's smile widened. Armin felt his gut twist each time the man addressed him as "Mister Arlert," though it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. He rather enjoyed it, for it made him feel like more than just a clerk boy. Earlier in his childhood fantasies, he had always pictured the captain of future dream his ship addressing him similarly.

The short man shifted in the seat across from Erwin and surveyed each of the kids with a disinterested stare, but he said nothing. Levi, feared first mate of the infamous _Freedom_, then crossed his legs and yawned. Armin glanced to his left and noticed that Eren's slack jawed, admiring gaze had not left the darker haired man. Mikasa, he observed, was not impressed with humanity's fiercest first mate. Armin was unsure of what his own expression revealed, though he had a sinking suspicion that his eager, terrified face more likely mirrored Eren's reverent, awed fawning gaze than Mikasa's disinterested glare.

"Though I am curious as to what caused the misunderstanding," Erwin started casually, smiling reassuringly at the three youths in front of him.

Eren finally snapped out of his admiration and stood up straighter. "We want to join the _Freedom,_" he stated without hesitation.

"Really?" Erwin's eyebrow lifted in thinly suppressed amusement.

Eren took the man's lack of blatant rejection as encouragement to continue.

"My mother was killed by pirates three years ago," Eren began slowly, his voice hardening as he remembered the events. Armin pressed his lips together and dropped his gaze, only to have it meet the first mate's cool stare. The blond started and quickly looked away. Captain Erwin's gaze and his first mate's gaze were equally intense, he concluded, though one was fiery and the other felt icy.

"My father drowned while at sea many years ago," Eren added. "Mikasa's parents died too," he gestured towards the blank faced girl. "And Armin's…"

Erwin steeped his fingers on his desk in his temporary land-based office and leaned towards the three youths. "Why are you so determined to be a crew member of the _Freedom _then?" His curious stare burned into Eren's equally passionate gaze. "It seems as if the sea is your enemy."

"The sea is where those cowards hide." Eren's bitter grimace caused the blond captain's brows to twitch in unexpected surprise. "I'm going to find them and I'm going to kill them all."

"But why the _Freedom?_" The solemn first mate injected himself in the conversation for the first time. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest, eyeing the boy with an unimpressed stare. "If you brats want to kill pirates, then join one of the king's shitty battleships."

"Now, Levi—" Erwin started, glancing nervously towards the youths. "You don't wa—"

"The _Freedom_ is the fastest ship that flies under the king's flag," Armin interrupted, feeling a strange sense of courage well up in his chest. It was a feeling that he hadn't felt in a while. "It is also one of the only ships to ever face the _Titan _and sur—"

"What do _you_ know about the _Titan?"_ Levi sneered, leaning towards the blond with a thunderous expression.

Armin bit his lip, realizing he shouldn't have spoken. The _Titan_ was the ship that had landed at their port three years ago. He had seen the legendary black sails from the town center, though he told no one the identity of their invaders. He hadn't even told Eren the name of his vengeance. Evidentially the ship was also a sensitive subject for the sailors before him. Even Captain Erwin's once friendly smile seemed strained at the boy's last statement.

"So, you want to join the _Freedom?_" The blond captain smiled thinly. "What skills can you offer us?" Levi snorted derisively, but he kept his narrowed gaze firmly on the fidgeting blond boy.

Eren smiled widely, dismissing the tension in the room and his friend's discomfort in favor of achieving his dream. To him, the _Titan _was just another ship he would eventually destroy. "Mikasa's very strong," he began excitedly. "She's the best swimmer of all of us."

"Is that so?" Erwin lifted an eyebrow and smiled at the solemn girl, who merely sighed and glanced away. He looked back towards Eren.

"I can see that you're very determined, Eren" he remarked.

"I'm going to kill all of the pirates," the boy responded with a nonchalant shrug, as if this admission was a casual statement. He never stopped to wonder how the captain seemed to know his name before giving it to him.

"I can see you both could be valuable deck hands on board the _Freedom_," Erwin continued to smile in his confident, encouraging way. "Though I hear Armin has another talent…?"

Eren grinned, nudging his best friend, who blinked and shuffled sheepishly. The latter still felt ashamed by his earlier transgression, though he had no idea what it had meant, and was determined to not worsen his or his friends' situation any further.

"Armin's the best map reader on Shiganshina!" Eren enthused with a wide grin. "He used to show us all of his grandfather's maps." A small smile even crept across the solemn girl's pursed lips at the shared childhood memories.

"Is that so?" Erwin repeated again, looking back at the blond with a calculating expression. Armin kept his gaze firmly on the wooden floor.

The candle in the man's room gutted suddenly, throwing dark shadows across the walls. The blond captain glanced towards the oil level in his lamps and frowned. "It's late," he announced. "We should probably wrap this up, shouldn't we, Levi? We leave tomorrow afternoon," the man confided with a conspiratorial smile.

"Do you have any objections to these three _fine_ youths joining the ranks of the _Freedom, _Levi?" Erwin's stare locked firmly onto the gaze of his first mate, daring the latter to make any snide or demeaning remark. Instead the shorter man sighed and shrugged in a surrendering sort of way.

"I can find something for the two brats to do," he acquiesced to his captain with a slight dip of his head. He shot a flat glance in Mikasa's and Eren's direction. "Something has to be cleaned."

Erwin smiled, "Excellent. And I'm sure Hanji can find a place for Mister Armin."

Levi snorted again, though he did not elaborate on the reason.

Erwin turned back towards the three gathered youths before him. His jovial expression turned briefly somber for a moment.

"The _Freedom_ is not simply a ship," he began in a low, warning voice. "The crew members of this vessel take their responsibility to humanity very seriously. As you have discovered already, the sea is a very dangerous place. If you are absolutely certain that you want to take part in this life, you have my permission to join the crew." Erwin leaned back and smiled warmly, breaking the tense spell he had previously set.

"Please think about it over a night's rest and if you are still interested in sailing with the _Freedom."_

Eren nodded enthusiastically, though his bright gaze already announced his final decision. Even Mikasa looked vaguely thoughtful by the man's proposition. Armin mashed his lips together and met the captain's firm stare, wondering if he was signing away his life by not looking away.

"I wish you good night," Erwin smiled, waving at the three youths. Levi slowly untangled his short limbs and crossed to the door, holding it open for the others. Eren was the first of the teenagers to move towards the door with Mikasa following him like a second shadow. The brunet was determined to get the best sleep imaginable to best prepare him for his looming big day.

As Armin passed through the door, an icy grip caught on his upper arm, causing him to gasp involuntarily. His gaze darted to the side to meet Levi's relentless scowl.

"Would you mind waiting a moment, Mister Arlert?" Erwin glanced up from the papers scattered across his desk. Eren halted in his journey and turned expectantly, prepared to act if issues were to arise.

Erwin noticed the boy's hesitation to leave and smiled reassuringly at the two older teenagers. "I was just curious about Mister Arlert's advice for our next course. It shouldn't take long," he added.

Eren nodded slowly and looked back towards the blond to see if the boy was in any discomfort.

Armin smiled weakly. "I'll meet you outside?" he offered.

"Alright…" He and Mikasa turned and continued walking, the former throwing one last curious glance in his best friend's direction. When the twin set of footsteps faded down the stairs, Armin braced himself and turned to face the blond captain's next statement.

_I shouldn't have said that thing about the _Titan_…_ he echoed forlornly in his mind. _He's going to tell me that I can't be a part of the _Freedom. _Eren will be so upset…_

"You mentioned the _Titan?_"

_Here it comes…_ "Yes," the boy admitted with a sigh. "It was the ship that attacked our port three years ago. I recognized the black sails from the stories."

"Interesting," Erwin nodded. Levi's iron vise around Armin's upper arm loosened and Armin felt the blood pool again into his fingertips.

"Levi also told me that you don't think Stohess coast is the best way to get to the open sea?"

Armin nodded slowly. "With all due respect, Captain Erwin, but it is not. The Stohess coast is often occupied by pirates looking for shelter at this time of year. I would recommend heading towards Karanese instead."

"Interesting," Erwin repeated, nodding ever so slightly. "I wouldn't have thought they would be accessible at this time of year."

"The ports are empty since most of the trade has been brought in for the season," Armin responded, drawing on the distant knowledge his grandfather had instilled within him many years ago. Thinking back to those times brought the boy stinging memories that weren't entirely unpleasant.

"I think we've made the right choice, Levi. Don't you think?"

Levi shrugged and made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. "We'll see what Hanji thinks of him," he responded cryptically. For the second time that night, Armin suddenly felt wariness at meeting his technological idol.

"Well, that is all I can think of asking tonight, Mister Arlert. I suggest you follow your friends' examples and get a good night's rest," he smiled again at the boy and waving him off with a friendly wave. The boy received no greeting from the surly first mate, though he didn't expect to. He numbly plodded down each of the steps and met the curious, prying gaze of Eren when he pushed through the building's exit door. Evidentially the boy refused to head for home without speaking with Armin.

"What did he want?" Eren asked immediately once the boy was completely outside.

Armin shrugged. "He just wanted advice on the best course to sail," he admitted, thinking nothing of the earlier question about the _Titan._

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Sorry again for the long introduction chapter. More action next chapter, I promise!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.  
**Author's Note: **Jiminy Christmas. Look how productive I've been. Don't expect many updates after this week, though, 'cause then it's back to school for me.

Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. I apologize for how slow this fic is moving along. It's just that since this is a fairly intricate universe, I have to make sure to establish _every _key point and subconscious plot twist before I get the action rolling. But definite action next chapter! Definite pirate-y stuff as well! And AruAni will make it's first debut in the next, next chapter, I believe :D

* * *

Despite the vigor in which he squeezed his eyes closed, sleep evaded Armin for a majority of the night. The blond waited in agonizing stillness for the sun to rise, wide awake in the tiny shack he shared with Eren, Mikasa, and a few consistently drunk tenants. Despite the sluggish ache in the Armin's limbs and bones, his mind was racing, each new idea or thought fragment buzzing like an electric current through his disjointed imaginings. He couldn't settle down, too preoccupied with thoughts of his grandfather, the map, Armin's navigation skills, and Captain Erwin's strange interest that undoubtedly involved them all.

Eren, on the other hand, had already taken to obeying his captain without even stepping foot on the ship. The brunet's light snores and peaceful grunts, which comfortably filled the dark room, informed Armin that his friend was in a deep, uninterrupted sleep. Although he could barely see Mikasa's dark profile over the tip of Eren's nose, the slight whistle of the girl's calm breathing reaffirmed Armin's theory that he was the only one still awake.

The blond nestled deeper into the thin blanket draped around his shoulders and stared blankly at the decaying ceiling above him for what felt like an eternity. _Perhaps it is best that we go, _the boy thought absently. He was able to picture each streak of mold and each weather-worn hole in his mind even though the entire room was nearly pitch black. _I'm not sure how much longer the roof will last._ The sheer ridiculousness of the thought—going on an adventure because of a leaking roof—started Armin from his incoherent ramblings and he would have laughed if he didn't fear waking the others.

_I want to go because of the…roof?_ Armin blinked in the darkness, wondering sluggishly in his half-conscious what had caused him to become so…so—_boring,_ he settled after a moment of thought.

After a while, his eyelids finally started to burn and he could feel sleep finally sweep towards him with gentle laps against his consciousness. His eyes closed gradually and colorful, vibrant images hurtled through his mind—caught somewhere between coherency and a dream.

_Blonde hair? Blue eyes—but tired. Black sails._ Armin bit his lip and tossed slightly in his half-stupor. He was awake enough to know these images behind his eyelids were only flashes from his past, but he was too dazed to rouse himself from the nightmare.

_Grandfather? Grandfather! No! Come back! I don't know what this is…_ Armin rolled over onto his back again, squeezing his eyes tighter. _I don't know what this means—whole world—my enemy—blonde hair…a girl?_

_I don't know where it is!_

At the last memory, the blond started violently, staring with wide, unseeing eyes at the ceiling above him. Despite the cool stone below him, warm sweat beaded across his forehead and suddenly his skin felt too hot to bear. He panted softly in the darkness, swallowing each fading memory with a nervous, struggling breath.

_What was that?_

A faint brush of skin against his sweaty wrist made the boy lurch away again. Still halfway caught between his imagination and reality, he felt the warm grip on his wrist tighten into a comforting squeeze before slipping away. Armin squinted in the graying light of the room and noticed Mikasa's bright eyes glinting over Eren's profile. She merely studied him for a moment longer before sinking back to the floor. The girl's soft breaths confirmed her return to sleep, leaving the blond alone again with his thoughts. Armin appreciated her faint gesture all the same.

As he slowly eased back into a comfortable position, he tried to think what back on what had caused him to panic, but his sluggish mind drew an unhelpful blank. He wanted desperately to go back to sleep, but even with Mikasa's unspoken support, his mind was far too busy dwelling on the future to allow for any rest at the present.

Armin resigned himself with a sigh to staring at the holes in the ceiling for the rest of the night, watching as the dark sky grew light with streaks of gray and blue.

* * *

Evidentially the boy had managed to doze off sometime during the day as he was jostled awake by an overexcited Eren. Armin slowly pried his eyes open, blinking in slow confusion at his friend's bright, expectant expression hovering over him.

_What is Eren doing…? Are we—_Armin glanced towards the warm light and blue sky filtering in through the hole in the roof—_we're going to be late for work!_ The blond bolted upright, nearly colliding with Eren's forehead.

"We're going to be late for work, Eren," Armin rushed loudly, scrambling to detangle himself from his strangling blanket.

Eren laughed once and then frowned slightly when he realized his friend was still frazzled. "Relax, Armin."

Armin froze and glanced up and down at his friend. The blond's parted mouth dropped in shock when he noticed what the brunet was wearing. His eyebrows knitted into a classic expression of confusion.

"Eren…" Armin breathed, eyeing the crisp white pants of the King's navy uniform. Eren smugly pulled on his tan jacket, exposing the olive undershirt and blue patch of wings unique only to the _Freedom. _Faded leather straps wrapped around the boy's calves and thighs, leaving indentations in the white fabric and squeezing his slender flesh slightly. Although nothing was attached to the straps, Armin had a feeling that these bands were where the famous _Freedom_ Wings connected.

"We went to see Captain Erwin this morning to tell him that we want to join the _Freedom,_" the brunet continued enthusiastically. "He even gave us each a pair of the Wing straps," he gushed. "Although we probably won't get to use them for a while," he added, showing a faint hint of disappointment for the first time that morning.

Mikasa entered from a side room, wearing a similar outfit as the one worn by her adoptive brother. Her inseparable red scarf hung limply around her neck; she would never part with it even if it violated the uniform code. Her gray eyes meet Armin's blue orbs for a moment, but she said nothing about the latter's ordeal the previous night. If anything, she still looked slightly dissatisfied with the turn of events and her sudden recruitment on the legendary _Freedom._

"We wanted to wake you up too, but Mikasa said you were tired and needed the rest," Eren continued. Armin felt a slight flush trickle into his cheeks as he glanced away from his friends.

"Anyway, Captain Erwin was really excited that we said yes, so he gave us each a uniform to change into before boarding the _Freedom_ officially. We got yours too," Eren offered, holding out a bundled package towards the blond.

At the boy's words, Armin's gaze snapped towards the parcel. He struggled to his feet and carefully pulled the parcel from Eren's outstretched grip. The white fabric on top felt soft and clean against Armin's dirty hands and gnawed fingernails. His fingers curled instinctively into the fabric and immediately he felt like he was making the right decision.

"Hurry up and get changed, Armin," Eren tried to sound annoyed by his friend's gawking, but he was obviously just as giddy as the blond. "Captain Erwin wanted us on the ship by noon." Armin looked up and nodded, retreating to a corner in the back of the shack to change into the new uniform.

He slipped on each article of clothing slowly, savoring the soft rush of the clean, silky fabric against his bare skin. The foreign feeling of indulgence and the boy's lack of sleep made the entire situation seem surreal. The boy was rather disappointed when he rummaged through his new uniform for the Wing straps and found nothing.

_No Wings…? I suppose I wouldn't need them…because I won't be on the deck. _

As the boy brushed his fingertips against the white of his uniform pants, he still felt upset that he was the one denied the famous Wings of the _Freedom,_ since he was the one who was most interested by their creation and function. He quickly banished the selfish, self-pitying thoughts from his mind and reached down to pull on the last part of the uniform.

He slipped on the tan jacket, at first seeing nothing unique about it in comparison to the ones worn by Mikasa and Eren. His fingers strayed absently across the collar of his undershirt, trying to fix a wrinkle from Eren's messy handling, when his pinky scraped against something cool and metallic. Armin froze and glanced down to see what he hit, noting a tiny, silver badge pinned to his jacket's lapel.

The badge of the navigator.

The boy gaped down at the tiny representation of a compass rose and his fingers strayed back up subconsciously to absorb every detail of the pin with light, gentle stroke. He had seen this symbol once before in his grandfather's old things from his days before settling down as a mapmaker. He could hardly believe Captain Erwin would already give him this before he even knew Armin's skills, but the boy was flattered and honored nonetheless. Suddenly he felt an overwhelming weight settle heavily on his shoulders—a far greater weight that he had expected. Even though he doubted Captain Erwin would give him immediate power of navigation, it was incredibly likely that in a few years he could be the ship's official navigator.

"Are you done yet, Armin?" Eren's loud whine broke the blond from his thoughts.

Armin jumped and backed quickly out of the corner. He dropped his fingers from the pin and brushed them casually against the rough, canvas fabric of his new jacket.

"I'm ready to go, Eren," the blond smiled faintly and made his way towards the door. Mikasa, who was already standing in the doorframe, nodded politely at her friend. Eren trailed behind the youngest teen and paused in the threshold.

"We might never come back, y'know?" he offered solemnly. Armin blinked, startled by the surprisingly somber statement that originated from the brunet's typical never-look-back mindset.

Mikasa nodded again, neither particularly excited nor upset. Armin thought it expressed their collective feelings rather well. He wouldn't have called the shack they inhabited home per say, but it was still all they had after the pirates invaded. He supposed leaving behind their former life was just another step in a new, different direction.

Eren's uncertain frown suddenly broke into a wide grin. "Are we ready to go then?"

The others nodded their agreement and the three of them left the shack for the last time.

"Oh—I forgot to tell Shadis I was leaving…"

* * *

Armin wasn't sure what he was expecting when they approached the _Freedom_ for the first time in broad daylight, but it certainly wasn't what he saw. All three of the teens stumbled to a jarring halt, gazes traveling in unison across the barnacled hull, barely rising from the shimmering, brackish water of the massive dock. Gulls flapped precariously around the impossibly tall masts, screeching amidst their daring aerial assaults. Massive, white sails billowed gently in the sweet, salty air, creating soft _whoosh_ sounds with each breath of wind. A low, content chatter sounded disjointedly from around the main deck and along the dangling ropes, provided by a wide variety of sailors garbed identically to the stunned trio. Even more uniformed men and women ran along the lengths of the dock, dragging and rolling crates and barrels of supplies onto the ship. Even Mikasa looked appropriately overwhelmed by the busy sight.

"Woah," Eren breathed, the first to break the awed silence between the three of them.

A loud _bang_ exploded above their heads and the two boys cringed at the sight of a flailing human only a few dozen meters above them. Armin felt a terrified shout built within his throat, but in a burst of smoke and a triumphant cry, the squirming figure twisted sharply in the air and was drug away by hissing, vibrating coils. Immediately the sailor was darting back around the high sails, using the mast and supporting beams as anchors before landing in the tallest of the crow nests.

"The Wings," the blond whispered reverently. That was the first time any of them had seen the famed device in action and they were not disappointed.

"I can't wait until I get to use them too," Eren agreed in the same hushed murmur. Armin wished for the second time that morning that the same leather straps were worn around his legs too.

"Eren? Mikasa? Armin?"

The three turned at the sound of their names. A smiling young woman with ginger hair waved at them from a nearby dock port. "That is who you are, I presume?"

Eren nodded, taking the role of the leader for the three of them. "Yes," he affirmed.

The woman's smile broadened. "Wonderful! The captain's description of you fit perfectly. Please follow me—oh, wait. My name is Petra," she extended her hand out to the trio. "When Levi told me to find you, I just knew you must have been really special for Captain Erwin to want to take you on as recruits." The woman paused again and uncertainty flickered across her pretty features. "I also want to apologize if the first-mate said anything…_offensive_ to any of you. He can be a bit blunt, but he means well," she smiled winningly again.

A large, ringing bell echoed from somewhere within the ship and immediately the chatter onboard exploded into more excited shouting and calling. The ship was soon ready to set off.

Petra glanced back over her shoulder and then returned her bright stare back to the gathered teens before her. "We better get on board before they leave without us," she added cheerfully. "Levi told me to 'get your mops' immediately," she rolled her eyes good-naturedly, "but I'm sure a tour of the _Freedom _wouldn't hurt first." Her gaze landed on Armin. "But I think the Captain wanted you to meet Hanji first," the young woman smiled weakly. "You'll get along well, I think."

Armin smiled uncertainly, wondering just how mad this "Hanji" was to cause other people to be so anxious.

* * *

Although he had only gotten the briefest of tours as Petra guided them to Hanji's quarters below deck, Armin's head was spinning at all of the chaos around him. He was already positive that he would enjoy spending nights outside just watching the mechanisms of the ship work while everyone else slept. It seemed like the only time when he could ever find some peace and solitude. Petra dropped him off in front of the darkened door and waved apologetically as she and Armin's best friends continued walking down the candlelit corridor.

Eren caught his friend's blue gaze and smiled reassuringly. "We'll find you later tonight—I promise!"

Armin nodded and returned the smile weakly. "Have fun," he responded.

Eren waved one more time as his blond friend before the three disappeared around the corner. Armin could still hear snatches of their conversation for a moment before the disjointed whispers and laughs finally died away.

_It's now or never. _The blond took a deep breath and slowly brought his knuckles to the cool door and rapped them lightly against the smooth surface. The knock echoed through the room without a reply and for a moment Armin was afraid he would be forced to stand there, waiting for someone who wasn't actually there. He was about to knock again when a frenzied shout and a hurried scrabble sounded from within the room. Armin lowered his fist and waited another tense moment before the deadbolt slid away and the door was wrenched open by a wide-eyed, frazzled sailor with thick glasses.

"Ehh? Who are you?"

"Armin Arlert," the blond responded nervously. The technician before him _seemed_ sane, although he couldn't be completely sure based on preliminary contact.

"Armin Arlert…?"

"Captain Erwin told me to find you because of my navigation skills…?" he answered back uncertainly. Suddenly, he was struck with a horrible realization that this person before him might not actually be Hanji Zoe.

The person blinked sluggishly and then a wide smile spread across the technician's features. "Of course! Of course! He said you knew how to work these blasted things," Hanji stepped away from the door, revealing a room full of complicated instruments. Armin knew each dial and sextant by name. Armin followed the inventor hesitantly in the room, the latter of whom sweeping a disinterested and frustrated arm over the gathered instruments.

"I'm not a trained navigator," Armin started slowly. "But I am familiar with the basic principles. My grandfather taught me years ago," he finished pathetically, mashing his lips firmly together.

"I feel like we've been rowing in circles with my help," Hanji chuckled lowly and Armin felt a weak smile creep back across his lips. "Anything's better than that." The technician frowned, sadness momentarily dulling the elder's bright, inquisitive gaze. Armin was again reminded of the role he was filling and the former navigator he was replacing. He felt the urge to reach for his pin, but he didn't want to draw attention to it just in case it brought forth any bad memories for the veteran sailor. For all he knew, the silver emblem pinned to his lapel could have been the sole remaining artifact from his murdered predecessor.

Hanji hummed loudly and turned back to the papers scattered on top of a heavy, aged desk. Armin took the technician's action as a sign of their conservation being politely over and he was free to do as he wished. Armin strayed back towards the instruments, reaching out to adjust one of the tools thrown haphazardly in the pile. It appeared as if Hanji hadn't even bothered to separate even the navigational tools from the charting tools.

He had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Armin had been so consumed by his organization and cataloging that he was finally torn from his work when the last of the candles finally sputtered out. Armin jumped and glanced up sharply, staring sightlessly in the dark room. He was alone—he vaguely remembered saying goodbye to Hanji a few hours ago—and he could barely see his own hand when he waved it in front of his wide eyes.

_Oh no…_ The boy suppressed the urge to groan out loud. His first night on the _Freedom_ and he was already trapped in a dark room below the ship deck.

"Armin…?"

The blond jumped again and banged his elbow against the table, causing his carefully sorted instruments to clatter to the floor. Armin dropped to his knees and fumbled around in the dark, scrambling to catch the escaping ball bearings before they rolled under the furniture.

"Armin? Are you there?" Armin could see the barest flash of yellow candle light underneath the doorjamb.

The blond smacked the back of his head on the table. "Ow! Eren…? In here." He reached up and rubbed the pulsing injury gingerly.

The cabin door squealed open and Eren's grinning, illuminated face appeared in the threshold. "Glad I found you." The brunet paused and studied his blond friend, huddled under the table with one hand pressed to the back of his head. "Why are you on the floor…in the dark?"

Armin carefully maneuvered out from underneath the table and dropped his retrieved instruments back on the table. "The candles went out," he murmured embarrassedly. "I dropped things and tried to pick them up," he finished with a weak shrug.

Eren's grin widened and he turned back towards the door. "Come on—there's something we have to see. Mikasa's already waiting for us."

Armin followed slowly, wondering what could have possibly made Eren so excited. He was already on the ship of his dreams—anything better and Armin feared his friend would explode from overjoy.

Along the way, the brunet chattered excitedly about how both he and Mikasa were able to try on a pair of Wings. Armin listened enviously as Eren described the sight of Mikasa balancing gracefully in the air. However, when Armin prompted Eren on his attempt with the Wings, the brunet fell sullen and quiet and refused to divulge any more details.

Eager to keep his friend talking, Armin asked about the rest of Eren's day. The taller teen enthusiastically explained his new duty on the ship. Temporarily, he was in charge of keep the deck scrubbed, though he was optimistic that a promotion was in the future. Already he and Mikasa had met a large number of teens close to their age who had also managed to be recruited similarly by Captain Erwin. Armin blinked, startled by the simple notion of meeting new people. Self-confined in the tiny, overcrowded room, Armin had only had a brief conversation with Hanji and that was the extent of his social interactions for that day.

"You can probably meet them tomorrow or maybe tonight," Eren continued. "We're all bunking together." He continued to rattle on about each individual, painting detailed, quirky images of each new crewmember in Armin's exhausted mind. In particular, the brunet seemed particularly fixated on another sailor who went by the name Jean Kirschstein.

"You wouldn't believe how _arrogant_ he was…" Eren rambled. Armin nodded along with a faint smile, trying to memorize each door and corner they turned down while traversing the candlelit corridor. He was grateful for Eren's presence, as he doubted he could navigate the ship's underbelly himself.

Finally the two reached the doors that they had entered the hull earlier that day. Eren pushed open the heavy door with a grunt and ushered Armin up the final steps to the outside air.

The teen gasped the moment the salty wind ruffled his thick blond hair. He craned his neck to see above him, relishing the deep smell of salt and wood as it assaulted his olfactory senses. The sky above him was scattered with glimmering diamonds encased in an ebony blanket.

"The ocean…" the boy breathed, wandering dazedly to the cool, salt-crusted railing of the ship. He gently wrapped his lithe fingers around the wood and breathed deeply again through his nose. Mikasa, who had been standing nearby, casually crossed towards the two, wearing a faint smile. Armin opened his previously closed eyes and surveyed the dark, tossing waves before him, catching glints of starlight reflected in each slosh of water. Accompanied by the scent and sight of the wide sea, Armin now could feel the gentle rock of the _Freedom_, but below the ship's deck, he hadn't even been conscious of its initial departure. The entire situation was mesmerizing, magical.

Armin knew it was pathetic, but he could feel a slight moisture welling up in his eyes and obscuring his vision. He was finally at sea.

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing! You guys are awesome! **Like I said, definite action next chapter. Most likely some AruAni interaction next, next chapter.


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.  
**Author's Note: **Oh, now the action is picking up! I really hope you awesome readers are enjoying this story so far. Like I said, please let me know if you like it!

((Also, keep an eye out for a new AruAni multi-chap fic in the future! Another AU-though this time it would incorporate assassins and ancient Arabia :D If you guys are really eager for it, I can put it on a front burner))

* * *

The next few days seemed to rush by in a blur for the blond navigator. Captain Erwin had visited him briefly after the first day to casually ask about his progress and how he was adapting to sea life, but that was the extent of the conversation. The blond sailor neither inquired nor hinted at any location or demand, merely wishing Armin a wonderful day as he ducked out of the cramped corner that served as the makeshift navigator's work cabin. Since the technician had vacated the room earlier, he had seen little of Hanji, who apparently had roomier quarters elsewhere for more specialized work.

Apart for the brief respite that Eren and Mikasa offered when they snuck off duty to visit him, Armin was alone for the majority of each day. His only other time to interact with others was either in the mess hall, where conversations were often replaced by ravenous chewing and gulping, or in the barracks where several male teens spent each night. Often Armin returned too late to the overcrowded, hormone-flooded barrack to catch any one else awake.

After Armin finally reorganized the carnage that had previously been Hanji's attempt at navigation, he decided that he earned a well-deserved break. As the captain had yet to ask for specific instructions, he assumed he was not currently needed and could spend some time finally above deck with the rest of his crewmates. Perhaps he could find a way to somehow help his brunet friend. It was only fair that Armin help his friend after the latter found the blond and escorted him back to their sleeping quarters when he had fallen asleep in the tiny navigation cabin again.

Before leaving the now spotless room, Armin paused in the threshold and considered his hard work. With Hanji's confusing, intricate contraptions gone, he finally had enough counter space to neatly line each tool up according to purpose and leave enough room on the drafting table for future projects. Armin's blue eyes caught on the blank walls and he frowned, hating the naked look of the cabin. The maps, which had been shoved under a cabinet in the far corner of the room, were in horrible condition. Almost all of the tattered, yellowed sheets of parchment had sustained extensive water and mold damage. Armin even noted with a wide blink that a few were singed from flames and were flecked with dried crimson. Again, he wondered how the previous navigator had died, though he was partially terrified of asking and receiving the answer.

Armin knew enough about the surrounding port areas from his grandfather's extensive collection to sketch rudimentary samples of the coast and current patterns, but he longed for the official maps to hang along the wooden plank walls. If Captain Erwin ever visited to inquire about the necessary supplies, Armin swore he would ask for at least one map the next time they made port.

Realizing he had spent enough time dawdling about maps and charts, Armin quickly shut the door behind him and walked leisurely through the empty, lit corridors. He wasn't surprised to be the only one about—most crew members were either napping in their cabins to make up for the late shifts or were working out on the deck.

When the boy crossed through the heavy doors leading to the deck, he blinked owlishly in the overwhelming sunlight, stunned by the brilliance of the natural light in contrast to his artificial candlelight. He stumbled blindly forward—

"Hey! Watch it!"

Armin could smell the faint, sulfurous tang of gun powder and he heard a metallic hissing to his right. Thin fingers wrapped around his jacket collar and wrenched him backwards. Armin uttered a startled cry and would have tipped backwards if the same grip on his jacket hadn't adjusted itself to catch his arms.

"Are you okay…uh?"

Armin blinked the blazing stars from his eyes and smiled weakly in the general direction from where the voice had originated. "Armin Arlert," he supplied.

As his vision finally clearly, Armin realized that the teen in front of him was no older than him. _Connie Springer, I think Eren said his name was…._ he echoed, drawing on the brunet's brief, pointing introduction after the first night.

The dark skinned teen blinked and nodded again, smiling slightly. "Yeah, I remember Eren talking about you. Haven't seen you around very much though," he tilted his head curiously. He eyed the boy's thin frame and weak build. "You don't work in the medical bay with Christa, do you?"

Armin shook his head, fighting off a blush at the weak implication. "No, I'm…" he reached subconsciously for the silver compass pinned his to lapel. "I'm the navigator…I think."

"Wow," the older teen whistled, staring wide-eyed at the glinting badge of honor. "So you know where we're going then?"

Armin opened his mouth and shut it again, feeling another embarrassing wave wash over him. "Sort of?" he offered. "I'm really new at this. Still getting steady," he smiled weakly.

Connie scoffed loudly. "I'll say," he chuckled. "You almost fell over the railing. I saw you from up there," the teen gestured upwards. Armin squinted in the bright sun at the crow's nest. He glanced back towards the shorter boy and noticed for the first time that he wore the same leather straps that Mikasa and Eren had worn, but a metallic contraption was also hooked around his waist. One of the devices was still smoking from where the teen had activated it only previously.

Armin ogled at the device, finally seeing one of the famous Wings up close for the first time. It looked like a set of generic pistols, but he could see evidence of tinkering—most likely courtesy of Hanji—and the barrel was large enough to allow for a coiled roll of metallic wire to be triggered without complications.

"Wow," he whispered reverently. "That's amazing… Your job is incredible—are you the only lookout?"

The teen across from Armin preened at the compliments. "No, but since I'm the lightest," the shorter teen shrugged noncommittally, "I'm usually the one who spend the most time up in the rigging." He craned his neck and gestured towards the central mast. "Over there is Jean. He sometimes acts as the lookout since he's really good at using the Wings, but he's a bit too heavy to fully use the rigging. Usually he just works on deck with Marco," he pointed to another brunet beside Jean, "and the others."

Armin studied the faces from across the ship, wondering if this was the same Jean that Eren complained about incessantly. His face wasn't _that_ horse-like.

A shout from somewhere above caused them both to jump. Connie smiled ruefully, "I have to get back to work."

Armin nodded; he understood. "Thank you again for, uh, stopping me. It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, likewise," the shorter of the two waved over his shoulder. With a burst of gunpowder, he disappeared back into the billowing sails.

Armin watched him go, still feeling an envious pang at the boy's remarkable freedom.

"Hey! Armin!" The blond turned towards his brunet friend. "What are you doing up here?" Eren grinned, toting along a heavy coil of rope. "Finally bored by all of those maps?"

The younger shook his head. _Never._ He considered the slightly perspiring teen before him. "Need a hand?" Armin offered with another wide smile.

* * *

Armin found working on the deck rather enjoyable apart from the relentless beat of the sun above him. However, by simply allowing his mind to drift away on the gentle lap of the waves, the sun beams seemed far less oppressive to him. He was still positive that he would be nursing a massive sunburn by the end of the day, but he didn't care. The salty air and cool ocean spray was intoxicating.

After he helped Eren gather up the last of the extra rope, the two spent the rest of the afternoon washing away the crusted saltwater on the deck. According to Eren, the first mate was a bit of a stickler when it came to uncleanliness of any kind. Apparently things became very bad when sailors didn't mind their hygienic habits, which was perhaps why nearly no one onboard the _Freedom_ was missing any teeth or ever came down with fleas.

Just as Armin finally finished scrubbing his sector and was returning to the soap bucket, a loud, clanging bell sounded above them. He wasn't sure what it meant, but Eren, who had been informed of the ship's tone schedule, paled considerably. Immediately several sailors equipped with Wings, who had been lounging casually on the deck previously, sprung to their feet with twitching fingers dangling beside their contraptions. Something bad was happening.

Armin craned his neck up to see Connie flailing from the crow's next and gesturing towards something off of starboard.

"Come on!" Eren hissed, grabbing Armin's soap-dampened sleeve and tugging him towards the railing. The boy's eyes widened at the sight before him.

Although he dare not tear his gaze from the sea, Armin could hear the heavy click of the captain's boots behind him.

"Mister Levi—a report, please," Captain Erwin muttered in a firm, emotionless tone.

The first-mate trailed after his captain, eyeing the disaster before him with his typical blank frown. He brought a gold-plated eyepiece to his face, studied the wreckage for a moment, and lowered it with another grimace. "The _Garrison. _It seemed to have been attacked by pirates. The damage is not accidental," he remarked.

Armin gripped the railing and leaned forward, careful not to tip over as he almost did previously. The first-mate was correct in his assessment: whatever happened to the _Garrison _was certainly not an accident. The ship—Armin could hardly call it that anymore—was in several, barely floating segments. The remaining pieces of the hull that had yet to sink were littered with massive, gaping cannon holes. The main sail was shredded and singed, floating quietly in the smoking, debris filled water like a drowned ghost. Armin adverted his gaze from the tragedy at the next sight. Bloated, water-logged limbs and corpse bobbed gently in the sea. From what Armin could see, there seemed to be no survivors.

The blond captain cursed under his breath and turned to face his gathered, pale-faced crew behind him. "Search for survivors," he ordered. "We need to know what ship did this."

Several of the more experience crew members equipped with Wings nodded. Using the mast as an anchor, a few launched off of the _Freedom_ directly, landing and sputtering the in the water. Other sailors, one of which Armin noticed was Jean, aimed directly for large pieces of the wreckage and landed with heavy grunts on the bobbing pieces. Armin watched with bated breath as the crew members filtered through the debris, many of them actually plunging into the sea to better search.

However, little progress was made and no survivors were discovered. Eventually, the sailors had to return before the salt water corroded their gunpowder too badly. The other crew members remaining on the _Freedom_ refused to return to work even after the first-mate's stern warning, watching the unfolding action with wide stares.

"Captain! Captain! We found someone!"

Captain Erwin's gaze darted in the direction of two of his men who were waving excitedly. If Armin squinted his eyes tightly enough against the sun's glare, he thought he could see the prone form of a tall, slender human resting on a wooden plank. Immediately, row boats were dropped from the side of the ship and dispatched in the direction of the two sailors and the _Garrison_ crew member.

As the survivor was hoisted gently back on the ship, Armin managed to catch a glimpse of her face. She seemed young—barely older than Armin himself, though she was quite a few centimeters taller. Freckles dotted her dark skin and her uniform, similar to the outfit that the crew members of the _Freedom_ wore, was ripped and singed. The strongest of the sailors gently carried the girl down to the infirmary, leaving Armin frowning at the wreckage one last time.

_Who caused this?_

* * *

The survivor, who upon awaking terrorized a majority of the nursing staff apart from a kind, young blonde recruit, was unable to give any definitive information about her ship's destruction. She bluntly said her name was Ymir and she was onboard the _Garrison_ when pirates attacked it. When prompted on the name of the pirate ship, the girl merely mashed her lips together and shrugged, asserting that she never saw the ship's name and she didn't who attacked them. This was all that Armin had gleaned from the drifting conversations that passed in front of his cabin door.

He had returned back to his navigator's cabin, unable to handle the sun or the sight of the destroyed ship any longer. Although he didn't know what he was looking for, the boy spread open the least damaged of the maps and scrutinized each detail. Perhaps he could find some hint of which pirate sect had attacked the _Garrison_ based on the previous navigator's notes on shipping routines.

Armin poured over the notes before him and didn't even notice the captain's presence until the older man knocked politely on the doorframe. The younger blond jumped, nearly sending his instruments clattering to the ground again. He straightened as the captain entered the tight, crowded room.

"Sir…? Are you looking for Officer Hanji?"

Captain Erwin smiled and shook his head. "No, not yet."

"Oh," Armin paused, uncertain then on what the man desired. "Can I help you, sir?"

The captain nodded, eyeing the map spread out on the table in the center of the room. "Is that the most relevant map to our position?"

Armin studied at the map and his tiny corrections to the scale and landmarks. "It…it's old," he admitted, "but of the remaining maps, it is the most accurate. Although these instruments are old and a bit imprecise with this version of the map, I believe we are about here," he said, pointing to a location on the parchment.

"Only a few hundred leagues from the main Stohess port?"

The blond blinked down at the map. He hadn't realized that they were heading in that direction, though the captain hadn't yet asked for any modification to their planned route. Erwin seemed adamant in reaching the city, though Armin had no idea why.

"I believe we could reach Stohess within the end of the week," Armin responded honestly. He wasn't sure how accurate this map's scale was, but a week seemed like an appropriate estimate.

Captain Erwin studied the parchment, noting each of the tiny corrections Armin made to the map.

"Were these there or did you add them?"

Armin paled. "I'm sorry, sir," he apologized, suddenly regretting his decision to mark on the parchment. It wasn't his map—he had no right to modify it. "I merely corrected a few outdated errors but I can era—" he reached for the first marking to smudge it away.

"No need, Mister Armin. I just need to know if new maps are in order."

The blond smiled weakly, relieved to not have been in trouble. "New maps would certainly make things easier," he admitted.

"Very good," the captain nodded and fell silent.

Although he was not very familiar with the blond captain, he could tell something was still plaguing the older man's mind. "Is there anything else I can help you with, Captain?"

Erwin shook his head ruefully. "Unless you can figure out who sunk the _Garrison,_ I'm afraid not."

Armin looked down at the charcoal markings on the main map. The blond had been just as curious as the captain about the identity of the _Garrison's _attacker and attempted a few tests to possibly provide some answers. The method he had used was highly theoretical and his grandfather had only barely begun to employ it in his own maps, but Armin had always viewed it at highly logical. Besides, how could hypotheticals hurt if they provided potential clues?

"According to uh, the _notes," _Armin started awkwardly. He wasn't sure if he would ever stop feeling uncomfortable about his predecessor until he found out the exact details of his fate. "The notes on the _Garrison_'s routine shipping route showed that the ship was very off course. I believe that whoever pursued the _Garrison_ didn't casually attack them—they drove them to this location like the _Garrison _was their intended target." Armin broke off at the troubled expression thundering across the blond captain's face.

"Sir…? Did I say something wrong?"

Erwin smiled thinly at the boy in front of him. "No, Mister Armin. It's just—I have a few ideas on who might've done this." The candle in the corner of the room gutted and the blond captain took that as a sign to take his leave.

"Thank you and good work, Mister Armin." Armin blushed at the praise and nodded to his captain as the taller man exited. Armin turned back towards the map and reached for his charcoal pen when the threshold squealed.

"Captain, did you forget somethi—oh…" The teenager broke off at the site of his visitor. It wasn't the captain—it was the survivor. "Um, hello…?" Armin squeaked awkwardly, blinking at his unexpected guest.

The young woman studied Armin for a moment, lingering slightly on the silver compass pin, and opened and closed her eyes lazily.

"I'm glad to see you're okay," Armin continued nervously, wondering what this girl wanted with him. The brunette didn't reply, but she raked her dull gaze across the map fanned out on the table. She slowly circled the table, brushing her hand against the writing utensils. Without knowing why exactly, Armin felt himself stepping casually in her line of sight, intercepting her prying stare with his own body.

"Can I help you? You really should be going back to the infirmary. I can show you where it is if you want me to…?"

The corners of the girl's mouth pulled into a thin smile, though the warmth did not spread to her eyes. "I was just wondering if you could tell me where we were sailing to? I need to know where, so I can find my closest members of kin to let them know I'm oka—"

"Captain Erwin knows our destination," Armin interrupted, feeling slightly braver than his quivering knees seemed to suggest. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that."

Ymir's smile lost some of its intensity and she nodded once before backing out of the room. "Thanks," she muttered, disappearing around the corner. Although he hadn't told the girl anything, he had a sinking feeling that she already was able to glean an idea of where they were heading. After all, he had foolishly circled Stohess' main port only a few moments earlier to show Captain Erwin.

Armin waited with stifled breath for the girl's soft footsteps to disappear. When he was positive she had left, he quickly blew out the candle and trailed after her at a safe distance. He had no idea where this daring, un-Armin-like attitude came from, but he felt partially responsible for revealing a crucial secret-otherwise why would only Captain Erwin and perhaps Levi know about Stohess-and he had to rectify that in any way possible. Besides, he didn't trust the sole survivor of the _Garrison._

Ymir's uncertain, stealthy footsteps soon led to the main deck. Armin ducked behind a set of water barrels as the taller teen crossed to the railing. Under the light of a swinging lantern, she fumbled in her pockets for a tiny glass bottle. From another pocket she procured a charcoal pen and a scrap of parchment Armin recognized from his own quarters. The realization caused him to shift indignantly, eliciting a loud squeal from the uneven board he was perched upon.

Ymir froze her frantic scribbling and her head shot up like a scouting hawk. She scourged the deck with narrowed, dangerous eyes, raking her careful gaze along every possible hiding spot. Armin feared he was about to be discovered and subsequently tossed overboard, but the girl quickly finished up her note, stuffed it in the glass bottle, and tossed it over the railing. She disappeared back under the deck with another suspicious glare over her shoulder, leaving Armin alone with a spinning mind and no idea on what to do.

* * *

**Thanks for your awesome support so far! Please let me know your opinions on that new AU idea ;D**


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